to bother the grizzly no more than a tetanus
shot would trouble a human. Huge, powerful,
he glared at us, seemingly confident. Then
his eyelids fluttered, the challenge left his eyes,
and his head slumped forward on his chest.
In one minute he was down- and out.
To act so fast, the drug must have entered
a vein. The average time required was four
minutes. Maurice prodded bruin's jaws with
a stick but elicited no response.
Wes Woodgerd wound up the heavy steel
door; then, tugging in unison, we slowly pulled
the bear out of the trap and into the open.
John had pliers, punch, eartags, disinfectant,
and an emergency syringe of drug laid out.
Working rapidly, he and Maurice snapped a
metal eartag in place and recorded the num
ber. Through a small slit in the ear they looped
a strip of red plastic. Between the open ends of
the loop they laid a white strip, also plastic,
and fastened both together with brass rivets.
Using this method, we could tag bears with
more than 60 color combinations.
Wes had been measuring the foot pads and
over-all length, but our tasks were not going
off on schedule. The bear was constantly
growling and moving spasmodically (op
posite). A tremor would go through him as he
vainly tried to gain his feet. It was like work
ing over dynamite with a damp fuse.
Bruin Needs a Second Shot
Quickly we rolled the grizzly over to tag
his other ear and tattoo him under the front
leg for further identification. With a growl, he
tried to regain control of the terrific force that
had always served him. The effort brought
him to a near-sitting position. Then he dropped
back. He was clearly underdosed.
Wes reached for the hypodermic and gave
him an additional shot in a rear quarter. We
waited for the drug to take effect, but once
again the massive bear struggled to gain a
sitting position. Muscles rippled and flowed
beneath his glossy hide. We backed off as he
went down. Now surely we would see a change.
He struggled to rise again and gained his
feet. Wobbling, he moved toward us. Glanc
ing back, I saw his step become firmer. Mine
became faster. Then I was suddenly inside
the car and so were the others. I can't remem
ber holding a door open for anyone, and I am
sure no one politely held one for me.
As the grizzly passed by, heading for the
timber, he turned for a last puzzled look back.
The sun struck the single plastic marker in
his left ear; an incomplete job, but one mark
er would do.
"It looks as if three and a half to one wasn't
V NATIONALGEOGRAPHICSOCIETY
Liberated cub regards his captors with curiosity
but seems unaware of his new ear ornament. A few
grizzlies charged after reviving, forcing the taggers
to scurry out of reach.
enough," I said. Maurice nodded agreement.
"No," he said, "and next time we jab one
with the hypo, better not in the rear end. That
needle just didn't get through the fat."
Sucostrin is a curare-like drug which pro
duces relaxation by preventing nerve im
pulses from reaching the skeletal muscles. To
be effective, it must get quickly-but not too
quickly-into the bloodstream.
All the grizzlies could feel, hear, see, and
smell us as we handled them and rolled them
over to be measured and tagged. Sucostrin
does not impair sensory perception.
Was the experience of helplessly submit
ting to this indignity so distasteful that we
would find it more difficult to work with the
bears a second or third time? We wondered.
Then one of the Yellowstone Park rangers
who had helped us popped the question we
had already asked ourselves many times:
"If these grizzlies," asked Bob Howe, "know
what's going on and who's doing it, what's
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